I Live in a Sty.

I'm not kidding. Not dirty, just extremely cluttered. Remember that earthquake I blogged about? Yeah I never was able to replace the broken bookshelf. I live among piles of books and paper clutter. I haven't grown accustomed to it, I live uncomfortably, even by my standards.

I keep things. Not everything, but random things and lots of it. Since childhood; I was an only child, an only girl, and a cute kid, so friends and relatives would often give me toys and whatnots when I was very young yet nothing would ever be thrown out. My parents are like this too so I've become so much worse than they ever were.

So another year has begun and I think, I should start picking things out that I can give away or even trash. Perhaps some of my friends could benefit from my library. So I just spent some time picking through my things. Ironically, I found a book on how to organize things and eliminate clutter buried under a box of papers, old magazines and PEZ dispensers. At least the PEZ dispensers are all in one place. That's something.

I realize I've become much worse over the years. I've begun keeping the things you aren't supposed to keep...

• old transit stubs, passes
• health insurance cards for companies I'm no longer covered under
• two different phone numbers for a guy I'm not dating anymore
• magazines I've read
• magazines I've never read but have convinced myself I will get to even though they are now outdated
• business cards
• directions to a dimsum place--not sure which one
• recipes for food I've convinced myself I will make...someday
• phone bills for cell phones I no longer use
• bank statements for accounts that are no longer active

The list would go on and on. That stuff I've listed will easily get chucked or shredded. What is strange is that I set aside an old Hollywood Video rental card to keep. WHY? I did it without thinking and that is really the weird thing about it. When's the last time you saw an operating Hollywood Video store? They've been out of business for a long time. I looked at the card again. It's a piece of paper, laminated. "Card valid only at 2052 W. Redlands Blvd..." Ah, so that's it.

I have a memory attached to this useless paper even if I didn't recall it before setting it aside to keep. Years ago, a roommate and I had an assignment due on the old film How Green Was My Valley. It was checked out at the library so we decided to rent it. We stupidly overlooked the fact that neither of us had an account at this store and could have easily gone to another video shop closer to our apartment. Neither of us wanted to open an account either. Not for this one film. Dull, old, boring, forgettable, and starring the young Master Roddy McDowall! How Green Was My Valley is probably best known for beating out the 1941 classic Citizen Kane [and the Maltese Falcon!] at the Academy Awards for Best Picture. You lost respect for the Academy when they chose Crash? They have a long history of picking stinkers and this is proof. My roommate and I went to the parking lot and had a smoke. We decided, they HAVE the video, if we try a shop closer to home, they might not. By the time we come all the way back here, we will have lost time and there's no guarantee classmates won't snatch it up. I think I lost a roshambo or something because here I am with the card and the memory.

Oh well. Chuck the card. Can't live in the past forever.